Yacht Mary by catopower - Mamoli Dusek - 1:54 - An Inherited Model

[catopower]

Gregory,

 

I just used them right out of the bag. There is some color variation between batches of blocks. But, not enough to worry about. I'm very happy with the deadeyes.

 

Also, the 3D printed stuff seems pretty sturdy. I've had wooden blocks split when trying to wire strop them. But, not the 3D printed blocks.

[catopower]

Patrick, please tell Felix that Sebastian says 'hi'.

 

[catopower]

The next issue on the Mary is to fix the positioning of these fittings that work like cleats or kevels. Does anybody know the proper term for these Dutch belaying points?

These fittings were mounted so low on the bulwarks that there was no room to wrap lines around them. I had to debond the glue that was used on them, which was some kind of rubbery adhesive. It made them easy to remove, but left a lot of rubbery glue spots and some hard to remove residue on the model. I did what I could and re-attached the fittings with thick CA glue.

 

This allowed me to finally rig the lines for hauling up the lee boards. Rope coils to come later.

Looking ahead at rigging the vangs, I noted that an image of the Utrecht reconstruction showed small pin rails at the bulwarks, aft. So, I added those to the Mary. I didn't have a whole lot of room to do this, as the forward wall of the stern cabin is about an 1/8" further forward than the plans show. This was an adjustment made by the original modeler. Made the spacing a little tighter, but I think the new pin rails should be okay.

 

Edited April 5 by catopower

[catopower]

I FINALLY made some progress on setting up the shrouds on the Mary. I find this to be a lot of work and am usually much happier when I get to the part where I can just mindlessly tie clove hitches for the ratlines.

 

Took me quite a while to be happy with the work I was doing, first seizing the shrouds around the mast head, then adding the deadeyes, and then seizing them into place. This was a good project for easing back into this process, since there are only four shroud pairs total.

 

Note that the shroud lanyards are not yet secured, since the setup is only temporary, to make sure everything lines up okay. The slight variation in the line of upper deadeyes should mostly go away when I secure the lanyards. They're still loose enough to cause that bit of variation.

 

This is also kind of a practice run for rigging the shrouds on my HMS Wolf card model, which is currently on hold, but I'll be getting back to shortly.

 

All the rigging here is Syren's Ultra Scale Rope, and the deadeyes are also Syren's 3D printed swiss pear colored resin deadeyes. It's been a while since I made my own chain plates of this type, and stropped deadeyes with them. I had to handle and work the parts a lot to adjust the fit, which is why so much of the blackening has worn off the deadeye strops. I'll get back to working on my technique in future builds.

 

While I was working on the model, I also decided to secure the anchors and run the hawsers around the windlass and down the chain pipes. The cat heads were made by my predecessor and had only one sheave, so I had to get a little creative with the rigging of the tackle. I think it works okay.

The more I work on the model, and the closer it gets to completion, the more that rudder gap bugs me. I'm getting closer to the point where I'll probably just cut off the hinges, and pin the rudder into place.

 

I hope to have the model done by the next meeting of the South Bay Model Shipwrights in Santa Clara. We had our most recent meeting this past Saturday. This month's was a small gathering, but we meet in a rather small meeting room anyway, so it wasn't crowded. I didn't really make that much progress on the model since the last meeting, so I decided to leave it at home and bring something that would hopefully inspire me to get back to.

 

Below, you can see my 1/72 HMS Wolf model, sitting in front of a 1/72 Master Korabel kit of the Russian tender Avos. There's also a 1/72 Disar kit of l'Hermione, the French 32-gun Condorde-class frigate. And in the second photo is a USS Constitution cross section, and the Spanish treasure ship, Nuestra Seniora del Pilar de Zaragoza.

 

Anyway, next, I will need to come to a decision on the rigging of the Mary's cannons. There are only 6 or 8 guns depending on what information source you use, so it shouldn't be TOO bad. But, I've been having such a hard time working with the small blocks needed to rig the gun tackles. Wish me luck...